South Africa is within touching distance of a place in next June’s World Test Championship final at Lord’s, in London, but must win at least one of its two tests against Pakistan, which start with the Boxing Day encounter in Pretoria.
A run of five successive test victories in the last five months — over the West Indies, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka — has catapulted South Africa to first in the WTC standings and given it a strong chance of a place against either Australia, India or Sri Lanka in the one-off final in London.
The team gets two chances to advance to the WTC final, hosting a second test at Newlands in Cape Town from Jan. 3 to 7, and with home advantage and a winning record against Pakistan will be expected to do so.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.